Hi all! So I'm perhaps where many of you are or have been. I suppose I'll tell you a little about myself that way you can help to better fill my gaps.

Lately I've been climbing 5 times a week, 2-4 hours a day at a local gym (not a rock gym but they have a respectable 50 ft wall with a couple of arches). Unfortunately, I'm the only one who knows how to set (I work the wall) and no matter how hard I try, I can only set up to V7. I have previous setting experience from my collegiate climbing days, during which we were trained by a local level 2 route setter in order to set for CCS comps). Despite the inability to project V8's and above, I do push myself when I'm not working problems. I'll improvise on the wall and constantly test my limits. I'm a fan of traversing. I once loved slopers and hated crimps but ever since I've started working here, I've slowly come to embrace both. A daily routine consists of traversing, 4x4s, active recovery training, core work out (2ce a week), and hang board exercises.

It's come to a point where I can now flash V6s with ease and red point sevens after one or two tries. The reason I know I'm stuck on this plateau is that after 2 months of training/working at this gym I competed at a local comp and sent all of the sixes and sevens yet I couldn't finish an 8.

Also, I know, I know, I should be climbing outdoors more often but I live in Houston so what can I say. Granted I will be going back to Hueco for a few days in the next couple of weeks :D

Anyway, what can I doooo? Also, any tips on setting routes that are above your difficulty level?? Every time I set with the intention of achieving an 8, I put harder and harder holds, and every time I somehow end up sending the route the same day. I fail at life -___-

5 x a week is possible but more beneficial for power endurance more-so than power. If you were able to trim that down to 3 days a week you might get more out of your sessions. Setting only counts if you are working every move as you put it up. If your not doing more than 2-3 v6's in your day then don't count it.

If I were you I'd build a circuit of 10 of those v6-v7's. Send that circuit 2 times a week then on the 3rd day only climb new problems. Within 3-4 weeks you will be noticeably stronger in your technique and grip and this will allow you to start working the pure power moves you often see in v8-v9's.

Also, find problems that take you weeks to climb instead of days or tries. Use those problems to motivate you to train certain moves or grips. As you collect an array of these sends you will find your skills grow exponentially.

Simple answer: find a confirmed v7, then switch out the holds to make them smaller. Or, work on power-endurance by setting longer problems with multiple v7 cruxes.

I like that idea. It's actually something I recently began doing. Since V7 is all I could fathom, I set a route that consisted of only V6/V7 moves lol.

And I should climb at other gyms more frequently it's just that memberships are so expensive, I can't justify paying for one when I'm currently 'technically' working at one hah.

jbone, I definitely climb a total of 5 V6s and V7s every day. At one point I even try 4x4'ing on them lol. And I like the circuit idea. The problem about climbing new routes afterwards is, as I mentioned earlier, that I'm really the only guy who sets there since nobody else climbs anywhere near my level so I'm familiar with all of the problems.

Stop setting problems you can do. A common problem is to say you cant do it, so you make it easier thinking the moves wont go. If you know movement and have set a sequence you know isn't too reach dependent and is all there, leave it and work it. This is how you progress and get stronger. As a good route setter you should be able to imagine moves and see how the problem would be climbed if there was a stronger climber to do it. Now the trick is to not simply put on smaller holds to do it but use opposition and technique.... All though sometimes small crimps have their place.

Im pretty stuck at a v5/6 to. I noticed the pass 1-2 month a slow gain in skills and capacity . I then started climbing outside every weekend and when I came back in the gym, I was climbing everything with a lot more ease.

Second thing, I'm currently starting a good Training Board program separeted in 2 sections. First one for fingers and second for Power.

I did only 1 session on training board and I can easily see where this will take me in 1-2 month from here. I am barely able to hold myself with the two 2 middles fingers holds. But with the adequat training, I'll sure be able to hold myself/pullups with these soon.

Super good for your fingers strenght.

I think that climbing is the best training till you reach plateaus or really slow improvement.

Campus board would be amazing but I don't have the money for a gym right now :(

i know that this post goes against the grain, but hear me out. like you, i've been climbing an average v5-v6 for the past 15 years (school, residency, job, family, kids... all keeps you from making any progress on your climbing) and was finally looking for some way to get out of the rut. so i asked a few strong (v13+) climbers that i know and the bottom line was "you wanna climb stronger? you climb more!" so far have followed this "climb more" mentality for the last two months, and have finally broken into v8... we'll see how long i last.

the two friends of mine are v12-13 route setters and i ask them how they got that strong and here were the responses:

1st friend = i don't really train, because i am already climbing almost 40 hours a week with setting, and then climbing outside every weekend. (you hear that? he and his other climbing friends climb 40+ hours a week!!! and they don't get injured, and they are all impressively strong)

2nd friend = he was surprised that i didn't climb at least climb 2-3 consecutive days and was expecting to get stronger. he said that i needed to start climbing 2 consecutive days (then rest day, then repeat) and make sure that the 2nd day you really push yourself hard and not just socialize at the gym. he said that you'll feel like shit for a month but then start to feel good again... once you start feeling okay with this regimen, increase it to 3 consecutive days climbing hard on all 3 days, then rest a day, and back to 3 consecutive days. he was actually shocked that this was news to me and said that all of the respectably strong climbers do at least this. (he also said that hangboarding with two arms was a waste of time... he wondered how i could get any better without doing one arm hangs... he obviously doesn't realize how hard one arm hangs are on edges for the rest of us mortals)

now i see that you are already climbing 5 days a week for 2-3 hours per day, which is a good volume... my thought would be to add campusing and hangboarding to your workouts. adam ondra says that he climbs about 5-6 days a week and in addition campuses in the mornings 2-3 times a week. and i know that he is a mutant, but check out the website of "robot climbing" which is a blog of a more regular person, with regular genes who is just brutally dedicated to training... and also climbs 5.14 and v11... well done my fellow mortal! i mention his training blog because like the adma ondra training schedule, he also climbs about 6 days a week with several morning campus/hangboard sessions as well.

here is the link: http://robotclimbing.blogspot.com/

now everyone shouts warnings about injuries with this type of volume... here is how to prevent an injury... it's not the volume of climbing you are doing, it is spending too long on one specific route or problem. because if you are projecting something, it usually comes down to 2-3 moves that you're stuck on, so you do those moves over and over and over again for hours... this is how you get an injury. the same type of stress on the same part of the same joint repeatedly... i.e. a certain tweaky sidepull or gaston that keeps stressing the same middle finger at the same joint (the PIP) with the same lateral stress... next thing you know, you have a collateral ligament injury... and here's the dirty secret about ligament tears, they take about 9 months to fully heal.

so my solution to injury prevention? give yourself a finite amount of time on any specific problem/route... i used to say 3 tries, i kept breaking it, so now it's more like 5 tries. the goal isn't to climb your first v8, it's to go beyond that.

ask a 5.14 or v12 climber about their training... usually they climb almost every day and usually either have massively long sessions each day, or do several days of 2 workouts (morning and evening)

Those climbers your talking too, are they climbing at or near their limit for 3 days straight? I totally understand climbing 5-6 v's below your project for 3 days in a row but I can definitely say that the v14-v15 climbers I have witnessed and spoken too have never put 3 days in a row into there test pieces.

With that in mind if your climbing v7 and want to start climbing every day you will seriously damage yourself if you put 3 days worth of hard burns into a v8-v9. Rather, put one day into your project then spend the rest of the 3 days climbing 4 or 5 v's lower than your project.

I've done both, the 6 days a week climbing schedule and the 3 days a week and from my experience, I had to earn the 6 days a week schedule. I also sent fewer outside projects because I was putting so much into inside climbing at the time.

It's come to a point where I can now flash V6s with ease and red point sevens after one or two tries. The reason I know I'm stuck on this plateau is that after 2 months of training/working at this gym I competed at a local comp and sent all of the sixes and sevens yet I couldn't finish an 8.

My first question is how many V6s / V7s are you doing each day? How many different routes of these grades do you have to choose from, how many repeats do you do, and how diverse are the styles?

With your setting, you may be over thinking it. Or staying within your own established patterns. Rotate hold in directions you normally don't. Use slopers or unusual holds on steeper walls, Set moves that have difficult off-set balance. Any setter who understand off-set balance should be able to set really hard and really technical problems.